Industrial facilities, such as manufacturing and assembly plants, typically require large electrical currents for facility operations. In fact, a single large facility may require an electrical power supply capable of producing an alternating electric current of over a million amps. Large diameter conductors are required to safely handle the flow of such electrical currents without damage.
Typical switches are designed to open and close one or more electric circuits by means of guided separable contacts. However, the large electric current associated with the industrial facilities is conductive to the formation of an electric arc between the contacts upon activation and/or deactivation of the switch. An arc can form across the narrow gaps created as the contacts move together or apart. This arc may produce a dangerous explosion or fireball which is potentially damaging to equipment or facilities and/or injurious to people.
Various remedies have been proposed in the past to minimize such arcing, but these remedies have not proved satisfactory in preventing potentially harmful electric arcs. It has been proposed to immerse the moveable contacts in oil to alter the environment where the arc would be created. Other attempts have proposed directing a blast of air at the contacts as they separate. Arc chutes afford a confined space or passageway, typically lined with arc-resistant material, into or through which an arc is directed to extinction. Finally, conventional multiple throw, multiple pole switches may divide the current between a limited number of current paths.
Therefore, there is a need in the industry to provide an improved switch which is capable of handling a large amount of current without creating a dangerous electric arc upon activation or deactivation.